Word: rumsfeld
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...unfortunate typo in a Reuters report at the weekend may hint at the Bush administration?s troubles in selling America?s allies on missile defense. "A system of defense need not be perfect," the wire service quoted Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld as telling European security chiefs gathered in Germany. "But the American people must not be left completely senseless...
...Rumsfeld, of course, actually said "defenseless." But the Reuters error may be an inadvertent pointer to the fact that the administration is struggling to develop a coherent message on the issue. Washington's allies in NATO are opposed to the U.S. building even a limited missile shield aimed at the hypothetical missile capabilities of "rogue" states, out of concern that such a move would violate the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile treaty and prompt Russia and China to update and expand their own missile capability to compensate for their perceived strategic disadvantage if a missile shield is built...
...Rumsfeld had been sent to pitch the system to the continentals, but he appears to have registered little progress. And that bodes ill for President Bush?s meetings with Canada?s Prime Minister Jean Chretien on Monday, and with Britain?s Prime Minister Tony Blair later this month. The British share many of Europe?s concerns, while Chretien issued a joint statement with Russia?s President Vladimir Putin late last year insisting that Washington respect the ABM treaty...
Bush's advisors are split on the merits of the treaty. Secretary of State Colin L. Powell, a former chair of the JCS, has long favored the treaty. But others, like Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, contend that it would allow other nations to surreptitiously test smaller nuclear weapons, allowing them to make progress on complicated designs while the U.S. sits on its hands...
...Donald Rumsfeld: "A good man, an honorable...